My niece

 This week I attended the Queen Silver Star pageant on behalf of my niece. She was one of the Princess candidates contesting for the crown. She asked me if I would be willing to be her escort up to the stage and present her to the crowd. I would be Plan B. Her dad would be Plan A. She is a smart girl; she had contingency plans. :-)



She sure looked good up there on the stage. I was extremely proud of her and what she accomplished to make it this far.

Back when she was about 10 years old she told her mother that she wanted to be Queen Silver Star. In Vernon BC the Queen Silver Star pageant and the whole winter carnival week is a big deal. Most every community has something like it. Here in the centre of the Okanagan this is the one to be at and go to.

I remember my sister telling her daughter that she couldn't just 'be' the Queen of the pageant. She made it abundantly clear to her daughter that she would have to work hard. Doing good in school, doing your chores around the house, behaving, and developing some talents and abilities were only part of what would be required of her. My niece said okay.

Six years later and she is on stage as one of the candidates.

For the 5 months previous she attended "Princess training class" and many other functions that would train her to be the best possible Queen or Princess Silver Star she could be if she won either one of the titles. Through out these five months she was trained and tested as one of the 14 potential hopefuls. I was so proud to see her on that stage achieving a goal that she set when she was 10yrs old.


The show was amazing. There was an opening number with all the candidates, performances from the top three talent winners, awards for merit and scholarships, introductions of visiting "Royals" (Pageant & Festival Queens, Princesses and Community Ambassadors) from around the province and a few other things as well. It was a good show.



Those most engaging part was the retiring Queen and Princess giving their speeches about the past year as the reigning Royal, advice for the new Royals about to be crowned and of course the thanking of one another, their families & communities & sponsors for such an amazing year. Lots of tears were flowing during all this; it got me crying.

There were boring parts to it as well but not everyone is gonna watch it from beginning to end sitting on the edge of their seats! It was definitely entertaining enough that the boring parts didn't put me to sleep.

So my niece was escorted on stage with her father (Plan A) and I sat in the audience cheering her on the whole way. All of us there were dressed up in our best clothes with something purple to match her gown. Several people called us "Team Purple". We looked real good! :-)

Unfortunately she didn't win either title. I was a little sad but in the end that isn't the true achievement here. My niece set a goal and stuck to it. She achieved her true goal of being in the pageant and learning how to be wonderful young lady. She has developed some amazing skills that will be with her for the remainder of her life. That is what this is truly all about.

My niece has grown in to a beautiful, intelligent, caring person. I am very proud of her!

P.S. Today she was in the parade and she looked good. My sister and I made a little banner to show our love. It said "DESTINY our princess". Even though she didn't win one of the Silver Star titles she will always be a princess to us.